Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers went through a rollercoaster of a season in 2021-22, which they ultimately ended without tasting playoff basketball.
Davis bounced back after an average 2020-21 campaign, increasing his point, block and rebound averages. He also ended up with one of the best field goal percentages of his career, making 53.2% of his shot attempts.
However, the 29-year-old missed more than half of 2021-22 games with MCL and foot injuries. The latter nearly ruled him out of the last two months of the regular season, but the forward ended up returning for the final stretch of the campaign to help L.A. fight for Play-In Tournament qualification.
Although he was cleared for his comeback, Davis’ injury evidently hadn’t fully healed, as a painful grimace often showed on his face during plays. However, Davis told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that going under the knife wasn’t an option:
Davis said that surgery on his right midfoot sprain was never an option but added he could undergo an MRI on the injury this week.
“Taking however much time off and then coming back and getting back after it and getting ready for next season,” he said.
Davis previously lamented the Lakers’ injury misfortunes during 2021-22, saying he approached the season thinking they could do “something special” if L.A.’s stars were healthy.
“Like I said, when we put this team together, we had championship aspirations, and once again, injuries got in the way of that,” he said.
“I think we would love to see, I think the world would love to see, if we were healthy for the full 82. Now if that repeats next year and we have the same team, who knows. Like I said, we got to recap this season, what worked and what didn’t work and go from there.
“But I truly think that we could’ve done something special but Bron and myself, mainly me, weren’t healthy for the entire season.”
Davis wants to discuss ‘getting back to championship mentality’ with James
Davis said he wants to meet up with James in the offseason to discuss what’s changed since the Lakers’ 2019-20 championship victory — and how they can get their championship mentality back.
“I think we want to figure it out and just get back to that championship pedigree that us as players know we’re capable of,” he said.
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